Decoding MGMT Methylation: A Step Towards Precision Medicine in Glioblastoma

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Rehman, Hafeez Ur, Fazal, Sumaiya, Alazab, Moutaz, Baydoun, Ali
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Rehman, Hafeez Ur
Fazal, Sumaiya
Alazab, Moutaz
Baydoun, Ali
author_facet Rehman, Hafeez Ur
Fazal, Sumaiya
Alazab, Moutaz
Baydoun, Ali
contents Glioblastomas, constituting over 50% of malignant brain tumors, are highly aggressive brain tumors that pose substantial treatment challenges due to their rapid progression and resistance to standard therapies. The methylation status of the O-6-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase (MGMT) gene is a critical biomarker for predicting patient response to treatment, particularly with the alkylating agent temozolomide. However, accurately predicting MGMT methylation status using non-invasive imaging techniques remains challenging due to the complex and heterogeneous nature of glioblastomas, that includes, uneven contrast, variability within lesions, and irregular enhancement patterns. This study introduces the Convolutional Autoencoders for MGMT Methylation Status Prediction (CAMP) framework, which is based on adaptive sparse penalties to enhance predictive accuracy. The CAMP framework operates in two phases: first, generating synthetic MRI slices through a tailored autoencoder that effectively captures and preserves intricate tissue and tumor structures across different MRI modalities; second, predicting MGMT methylation status using a convolutional neural network enhanced by adaptive sparse penalties. The adaptive sparse penalty dynamically adjusts to variations in the data, such as contrast differences and tumor locations in MR images. Our method excels in MRI image synthesis, preserving brain tissue, fat, and individual tumor structures across all MRI modalities. Validated on benchmark datasets, CAMP achieved an accuracy of 0.97, specificity of 0.98, and sensitivity of 0.97, significantly outperforming existing methods. These results demonstrate the potential of the CAMP framework to improve the interpretation of MRI data and contribute to more personalized treatment strategies for glioblastoma patients.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_16424
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Decoding MGMT Methylation: A Step Towards Precision Medicine in Glioblastoma
Rehman, Hafeez Ur
Fazal, Sumaiya
Alazab, Moutaz
Baydoun, Ali
Image and Video Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Glioblastomas, constituting over 50% of malignant brain tumors, are highly aggressive brain tumors that pose substantial treatment challenges due to their rapid progression and resistance to standard therapies. The methylation status of the O-6-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase (MGMT) gene is a critical biomarker for predicting patient response to treatment, particularly with the alkylating agent temozolomide. However, accurately predicting MGMT methylation status using non-invasive imaging techniques remains challenging due to the complex and heterogeneous nature of glioblastomas, that includes, uneven contrast, variability within lesions, and irregular enhancement patterns. This study introduces the Convolutional Autoencoders for MGMT Methylation Status Prediction (CAMP) framework, which is based on adaptive sparse penalties to enhance predictive accuracy. The CAMP framework operates in two phases: first, generating synthetic MRI slices through a tailored autoencoder that effectively captures and preserves intricate tissue and tumor structures across different MRI modalities; second, predicting MGMT methylation status using a convolutional neural network enhanced by adaptive sparse penalties. The adaptive sparse penalty dynamically adjusts to variations in the data, such as contrast differences and tumor locations in MR images. Our method excels in MRI image synthesis, preserving brain tissue, fat, and individual tumor structures across all MRI modalities. Validated on benchmark datasets, CAMP achieved an accuracy of 0.97, specificity of 0.98, and sensitivity of 0.97, significantly outperforming existing methods. These results demonstrate the potential of the CAMP framework to improve the interpretation of MRI data and contribute to more personalized treatment strategies for glioblastoma patients.
title Decoding MGMT Methylation: A Step Towards Precision Medicine in Glioblastoma
topic Image and Video Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.16424